It was the best of times: Two towns (Zechariah chapter 2)

 OUT OF THE CHAOS: A study in the book of Zechariah 

Chapter 2: It was the best of times: Two towns 

 

Given 28 April 2023

By Bob Mendelsohn

Sydney, Australia

This talk is on YouTube on:

https://youtu.be/DaDqaXKIjhs

 

We are continuing in this prophetic book written by a young Jewish man living in Jerusalem about 500 BCE as he writes to his people, those living there in Judah and also to those living in Babylon. To each of those groups, he has some clear words and I trust that those words he spoke 2500 years ago will speak to you and to me as we will consider what God meant as he used that young man. And we will try to learn what God has to say to us as 21^st Century people. 

As per usual, my usual method will take us through a chapter each Friday morning, and then we will have plenty of time for discussion and questions in the final half-hour. If you are watching this teaching on YouTube after our class, please feel free to write me (bob@jewsforjesus.org.au) and I will try to answer queries if I’m able. 

If you don’t already receive the email invitations to join this class live, please enter your email address just now, type it into the chat box or write our office (admin@jewsforjesus.org.au) and ask to be invited. Thanks. 

Also if you don’t mind, please read the chapter before you come to the class live, and if you are watching YouTube, pause your playback, read chapter 2 and then rejoin us. Thanks.

Let’s jump in. Today’s lesson begins with a young man and a measuring line. He’s a surveyor. And this is Vision #3 in this quick listing of night visions that Zechariah sees. Oh, by the way, for those using a Masoretic text or any number of Hebrew versions of the Bible, the 2^nd chapter actually begins with the first two visions from last week, the horns and the tradies. But as of today, we are all reading from the same text. 

Vision 3 is about a surveyor who is to measure the length and width of Jerusalem. And you have to ask yourself, why is that included here? Chapter 1.16 indicated that the point of Zechariah’s talks, his clear message was to get the Jewish people focused on the rebuilding of the Temple. And as a spoiler alert, you should know that the Temple was rebuilt, even in his day, and that it saw a significant increase in the times of the Romans. That Temple is the one where Yeshua visited and from which he spoke many times. That Temple took 46 years to build, and Yeshua prophesied that if people destroyed “The Temple”, he would rebuild it in three days. (John 2.19) The people mocked him at that, but he was insistent and of course, he was speaking about his own body. 

Back to Zechariah. The man in the vision says he is off to measure Jerusalem. That’s it. That’s the end of the encounter. 

Verse 3. One angel exits and another one enters. Nothing of these visions seems elaborate to me. In fact, they are highlighting one thing, over and over. That is, that the Jewish people have hope, and it’s wrapped up in being in Jerusalem at that time, and getting down to work on the building project at hand. 

You have to remember that 70 years before, or so, under the guidance of the then prophet Jeremiah, God had instructed the Jewish people something very different. Chpater 29 read as follows:

“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon,  ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their ¹produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’ For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the LORD.” (29.4-9)

Back in Jeremiah’s day, the way to ‘salvation’ was clear and very different to the words in Zechariah’s day. For the Jewish people to survive and to succeed in 587 BCE we had to move to Babylon, to build cities and seek the welfare of that city. We had to settle down and get married. We had to build gardens and cities and listen to few prophets. We had to pray for the welfare of Babylon!

But the vision and the accompanying oracles are now telling Zechariah and thus the people of God that our hope is now moving back to Jerusalem. Get out of Dodge; get out of Babylon. Stop seeking the welfare of that city. Move, in fact, the angel says, “Run!” in verse 4 and in verse 6, “Flee” from the land of the North (Now that used to be a reference to Assyrian, but since Babylon captured it, Northland implies Babylon. Again in verse 6, the ‘four winds’ speak of whirlwind and thus quick motion. And in verse 7, ‘escape’ says the same to me. It’s about getting out of town quickly. 

Does that remind you of the Exodus? We’d been there 400 years and in a few days we are told to spoil the Egyptians and get out of Goshen and out of Egypt. 

So back to the vision. Angel #2 comes out and tells retiring angel #1 to go back to the “young man.” That’s a reference to Zechariah. 

The message? Go and tell him that Jerusalem will be inhabited. Significantly. Massive numbers of animals and people will be in town. Not only for a festival or a pilgrimage. They will move in. Don’t delay. Don’t require the fences to be established first. Get with the housing industry, let ‘er rip!

You know when a construction site is established here in Australia, around a new metro station or when a bit of demolishing is going to take place, someone sets up a perimeter. They establish the limitations as a wall. Then the signage goes on indicating ‘no handbills or else there will be consequences.’ We really don’t know what is being built or demolished, but we know there will be action. 

Zechariah is being told to get on with the work, without the required fencing. Don’t build a wall. You don’t need to spend energy protecting what is not yours. You need to get the housing contracts and the main site to be the Temple. Walls will be rebuilt by Nehemiah some 75 to 80 years later. Your job? Get that Temple built again!

God will take care of protection. He will be a ‘wall of fire’. 

ח֥וֹמַת אֵ֖שׁ

Personally, he will see to us. Our role: build that Temple. That will lodge him as significant inside the walls. It will be a daily reminder of God’s grandeur and significance. He is not yet so to the people of God. He wants to be to you and to me.

More in verse 5. I will be the glory in her midst. This promise of God’s majesty is the centrepoint of this message to me. All the stuff, the walls, the fire, the angels …they all help me see that God wants to be all in all. He is NOT YET all in all. He wants the relationship with Israel and Judah to be complete. Yes, get the Temple built, but it’s not about the Temple. Yes, get back to the Land, but it’s not about the land. It’s about God himself!

Now in verses 6 and following, God speaks to those exiles still living in Babylon. Get out. Yes, in verse 6, I dispersed you. Some will argue, the Babylonians did it. Some will say the Assyrians before them caused the removal of the Jewish people. God says, “I did it.” Judgment begins with the house of God. We had sinned and the warnings were clear. Stop and if you don’t stop, I will judge you. And so we as Jewish people were judged significantly. 

But now the 70 years are up, like the 400 years were up in Egypt, and God says ‘get out.’ 

Think about it, though. Jerusalem was not in repair. It was not flourishing. There were no gardens. It did not look the land of milk and honey. It was destitute. No Temple. No gardens. Where were the gardens? Babylon. Where was there money and comfort? Babylon. Where were most of the Jewish people living? Babylon. God is calling his people to exit comfort and walk with him in discomfort. That’s a stretch. That’s a tough call. God is calling us out of comfort to chaos, but it’s ordered chaos, under his lordship!

Verse 8 has a tough phrase to translate. Very few agree on this one. It’s three words

אַחַ֣ר כָּב֔וֹד שְׁלָחַ֕נִי

Smith in his commentary says, “is the most puzzling clause in the book. Is it to be taken as a purpose clause to mean that Yahweh sent Zechariah to get glory; or as a temporal clause “after the glory i.e. the vision, Yahweh sent me. . .”? Does “glory” refer to Yahweh as the RSV indicates; or to the vision (KJV); or to heaviness or insistence, as Chary and Baldwin believe? כּבוֹד basically means “to be heavy.” Baldwin suggests “with insistence he sent me” (p. 109). Others emend or transpose the text in order to get a clear reading.”

I agree with Michael Stead, bishop of South Sydney, who translated it as, “For this is what the Lord Almighty says, who for the sake of his honour sent me against the nations that have plundered you,”

That makes sense. It’s the purpose. God is sending Zechariah for his own sake. But the Hebrew is a bit tough; I’ll give everyone that. 

Listen to the rest of verse 8. “Touches the apple of God’s eye.” This is the soft spot in God’s vision. It’s the Jewish people. Don’t mess. Like Genesis 12 taught from the beginning. Bless Israel, you will get a blessing. Curse them, you will be cursed. Babylon? You are going down for what you did to Judah 100 years ago. 

Verse 9. God is about to act for his name’s sake. I almost see a magician waving his hand over a scene. Or maybe I should stay with the Egypt motif and see the hand of God’s judgment falling on the Egyptians. 

Verse 10. Sing and rejoice. Hey, Jewish people, it’s not yet done, but it will be. It’s as good as done. Yes, you are right, it’s incomplete, but the eyes of faith see the end from the beginning. God is about to act on your behalf and for his name’s sake. Now it will happen, then it will be done. Now and not yet. What is our job today? Sing and rejoice. Why? God is coming and will dwell with us. 

Where will that take place? Jerusalem. Where? In the Temple.

Verse 11 is shocking. Who will be there in the Temple? Who will be there with God? Many nations!

גוֹיִ֨ם רַבִּ֤ים

It won’t only be the Jewish nation. This is shocking. In verse 8, God’s judgement is coming against ‘the nations’ (el hagoyim), but now only moments later, the word of the Lord will make clear that Gentiles will be welcomed in God’s Big Tent. There is room for all peoples. The measuring rod and line at the beginning hearkens to Ezekiel chapter 40 and the immense measurement of the City and the Temple. It’s not only for Jews; it’s for all nations. Whoever will! And we will see that in Zechariah 14 at the end of this prophecy as well. 

Who is included in that? There might be Babylonians. There might be Assyrians. It’s not the entire populace of Mesopotamia or Shinar. But there will be people from every kindred, tribe and tongue in the Family of God in the largesse of God, in God’s glory. Wow, what a vision!

Verse 11 says when those nations join, you will know that God is who he claimed to be. And those nations will be joined to us in such a way that together we are ‘My people.’ Wow, if only Peter had known that verse when the vision of the heavenly sheet dropped in Joppa. If only the disciples had understood that when Yeshua spoke to a Canaanite woman and healed her or others who were not properly Jewish. God’s people includes all who name the name of the Lord. Jews and non-Jews. Men, women, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free. Whoever names Yeshua as Lord… they are God’s people.

Verse 12. God again highlights the geography about which he’s speaking. The English phrase ‘holy land’ is only used here, but it’s not ‘eretz’, but rather ‘adamah.’ Holy ground. Holy dirt. Same phrase as when Moses met God at the burning bush. Take off your shoes. Holy ground. 

No wonder the chapter ends with the silence required in verse 13. Habakkuk ends chapter 2 of his prophecy with that same thought.  “But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.” (2.20)

We who encounter the Lord, in Sydney, on Zoom, in our local church, in our neighbourhood, in a paddock, or wherever, when we do, let all the earth be silent before him. 

Before you rush into a prayer meeting. Before you share your prayer list with the Almighty, be silent. Consider his purposes. Consider his love. His mercy. His intention to all people, even to you… consider and be grateful. Be and then speak. 

God’s plans will be accomplished. Listen and learn. And then sing and rejoice. And welcome others. So be it. Amen.

Remember, you who are watching today, if you are not yet a follower of Yeshua, and see his love for you, his kindness extended, his offer of forgiveness available, right where you are, submit to him, to his lordship, to his care, and your life will take on new meaning, new substance, and you will have mates on this call, and in your neighbourhood and wherever you travel… the Kingdom is advancing under the King. Chaos is subjugated, life is available.

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Resource on video

To see a fun video overview of the book of Zechariah see this from Bible Project:

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/zechariah/

 

Bibliography:

Smith, Ralph, Micah to Malachi: Word Biblical Commentary (Volume 32), Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1984.

Stead, Michael, Zechariah: The Lord Returns, Aquila Press, Sydney, 2015.

Webb, Barry, The Message of Zechariah: Your Kingdom Come, Intervarsity Press, Nottingham, 2003.

Wiersbe, Warren, Be Heroic: Demonstrating Bravery by your Walk, David C. Cook Press, Colorado Springs, 1997.

 

Looking Back; Looking Up (Chapter 1 of Zechariah)

OUT OF THE CHAOS

A study in the book of Zechariah

Chapter 1: Looking Back, Looking Up

 

Given in Autumn/Winter 2023

By Bob Mendelsohn

Sydney, Australia

 

Welcome to the final Bible class series I’m leading here in Sydney, after 25 years of continued ministry, as leader of the organization named Jews for Jesus. Over the decades I’ve taught literally hundreds of such classes, sometimes covering topics and most times teaching the Bible in an expositional manner. We will continue that latter method as we learn what Zechariah meant in his 14 chapters, and what God meant as he used that young man. And we will try to learn what God has to say to us as 21^st Century people. 

My usual method will take us through a chapter each Friday morning, and then we will have plenty of time for discussion and questions in the final half-hour. If you are watching this teaching on YouTube after our class, please feel free to write me (bob@jewsforjesus.org.au) and I will try to answer queries if I’m able. 

If you don’t already receive the email invitations to join this class live, please enter your email address just now, type it into the chat box or write our office (admin@jewsforjesus.org.au) and ask to be invited. Thanks. 

Also if you don’t mind, please read the chapter before you come to the class live, and if you are watching YouTube, pause your playback, read Chapter 1 and then rejoin us. Thanks.

Our theme for the series is “Out of the Chaos” and may well represent how you are feeling, or have been feeling after COVID hit us and the planet 3 years ago. There is so much interpersonal hostility between people, and that boils over into protest we have lately watched in France and in Israel. The war in Ukraine continues as Russia persists. Maybe in your own life things are not exactly as you would like them to be. The word that may well describe your situation is chaos. That may simply describe the condition of your apartment. Or your children’s bedroom. No matter what tsuris you are experiencing, I believe the book of Zechariah will give us a big picture, a helpful way of seeing what is happening as chaos, as being subsidiary, lesser, and not the final answer. My job as Bible teacher the next few months is to help you see the Big Picture, and thus with this in mind, let’s turn to chapter one.

We meet in verse one the author and the date of his encounter with God. I like that. I found a box in my garage the other day and in it are historical books. Not books about the history of Israel or the history of Sydney Australia, but rather my own history. They are called “journals.” And a journal or diary (a journal from Jour (the French for ‘day’) or diary from the Spanish diario (also from the word for ‘day’) means a book of daily memorialization. In the diary of Anne Frank, we meet a little girl who matures in front of us and in the space of two years we see a woman of depth. On 12 June 1942, Anne was given a diary for her thirteenth birthday. Anne's last diary letter is dated 1 August 1944, three days before the arrest. She did not write daily. She wrote when she felt a need to self-express. She also wrote other things in notebooks, but for our consideration today, like Anne Frank, my diaries were not daily. Even though my most significant writing was in a journal that was in my briefcase stolen last May in Sydney, I grew as a person because of it. 

Now, I am not thinking that Zechariah is attempting to grow as a person due to his scribing, but I think it’s a good outcome of it. Of significance to us, in this study, though is that the recording is accurate due to his attention to detail and his journaling activity. Eighth month (Cheshvan), 2^nd year of Darius of Persia, that’s fairly precise. May I clearly recommend to you that you use your diary as a help in your spiritual journey (note the similarity of language), that is, your daily walk with God. Write down what God said to you, and even when you heard that. Write down that what He said you heard and even disregarded. Write down your failings and your victories. Inventory maintenance is healthy and honesty makes it all work. 

Back to our story.

We meet Zechariah. He is the son of Berechiah and the grandson of Iddo. Iddo is titled a prophet. However in Nehemiah 12.1-16 we meet this same Iddo as the head of a priestly family at the time of a High Priest named Joshua. We will meet that Joshua in chapter three here. So Zechariah is both a prophet and a priest. That’s good stock. And makes him the consummate insider. He’s not blasting ‘those people’ when he takes on the priesthood or the shepherds as he will make happen later. He’s speaking of his own family and his own life. Anytime a minister speaks down to his people he missed the point. Correction of the people of God must begin with the corrector. Judge yourself long before you look to fix others. Didn’t Yeshua teach that? 

“first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7.5)

Also in verse one we see that time wsa marked by noting the Gentile king Darius. That’s a bit unusual. Some of you were with us when I taught through the book of Jeremiah for a year (there are 52 chapters in that book after all). And each time period was marked in relation to the Jewish king of the day. Isaiah noted time like that, as did most of the prophets. Here, however, Zechariah notes time of Jewish life in relation to Darius. I see another point from that as well. Darius was king over Persia at the END of the time of the 70 years of Jeremiah. For those who don’t know, Jeremiah had predicted that Judah would be taken captive by Babylon for 70 years. (Jer. 25.11) As Darius was the king beginning in the 66^th year of captivity, so what will happen is intriguing to be sure. 

Oh, another thing. You might have studied the prophet Haggai in the past. He was an elderly prophet whose ministry seemed to overlap with Zechariah. But not by much. Haggai was old and it looks like he passed the prophetic torch to your Zechariah. Look at Haggai 2.10 and 2.20 and you will see the last recorded date, the 24^th day of the 9th month in the 2nd year of Darius. Just one month later to our verse one. I’m not sure of the mentoring role or the echo role that might have eventuated, but it’s interesting to ponder.

The name Zechariah means “God remembers.” 31 different men are named that in the OT. If I’m going to come out of my own chaos journey today, if I’m going to land on my spiritual feet upright with confidence that God has the whole world, even my world, in his hands, if I’m going to trust the Lord with all my heart and not lean on my own understanding, then I must know God remembers. It’s not about my remembering God. My success is not tied to my activity or my memories, not tied to my accomplishments or my severe sanctity, but rather to a God who remembers. He remembers the sins of our ancestors (as we read in verse 2) and he remembers his own covenantal promises. (as we read in verse 6).  God remembers and establishes his ways (see verse 16) He will return to Jerusalem with gladness and mercies. Rachamim. In mercies. Plural. Man, I need those mercies. They are new every morning. Amen? 

Back to verse two. God was VERY angry with the previous generation and that’s why they were scattered and are away from Jerusalem. The Hebrew is double wrath. Katzef. Some other words then Katzef again. Have you ever felt like that. I’m mad… mutter mutter, then I’m mad again. It’s a biblical way of stating emphasis. Tov tov can be very good. You get it. 

Verse three the call is to return to God. Practice t’shuva. Shuvu alai. God will turn back to us, not that he has to repent, but he will be there when we do. That’s significant and comforting and gives me hope in my chaotic life in 2023. Does it raise your hopes at all?

Verse five, the earlier prophets are mentioned,  and they also called Judah to repent. God’s word is often repeated, not simply regurgitated, but brought back to memory. It’s as if Zechariah is reading Jeremiah’s journal and bringing a freshness to it. Has that happened to you when you heard a story from the Bible, read it again, and it’s as if it’s the first time you are hearing it? Definitely for me. This would be an echo of a previous citation, and it’s important to learn from the mistakes of others and walk the other way. 

Like John the Baptist in the NT, Zechariah begins his public ministry with a call to repentance. Not a very easy or winsome message. But it’s a good one, amen?

Verse 6, who is turning? Who repents? Not the generation before his, but Zechariah’s generation. They turned. They acknowledged God’s sovereignty. They ‘got it.’

Verse 7 begins a wild ride for us which will last through chapter 6. It’s a series of 8 night visions and we will only see the first two today. The 8 actually form a type of echo chamber. What do I mean by that? The first is echoed in #8, the 2^nd in #7, 3 in 6 and 4 and 5 share together. So although we should look at the real pairs today we’re going to look at 1 and 2. Ah, the problem of taking the chapters as they come. That darn editor who restructured Zechariah’s words.

The rabbis teach that the prophetic visions here are so esoteric that ‘many will not be fully understood until the coming of Elijah the Prophet.’ (Stone Edition, Tenach, p. 1406) But I think we will try to bring a bit of clarity before that day if the Lord allows.

Verse 8, we see Vision #1. A man riding a red horse. Standing among the myrtle trees (Hadassah) in a ravine, (M’tzulah: the word for deep (used in Psalm 69 twice). Three other horses in his entourage. An angel is the guide/ interpreter for Zechariah. (verse 9) He will be involved in 7 of the 8 visions, and he tells Zechariah “I will show you.” Then the red horse rider answers. These are the patrols. Like a modern drone. Then ‘the angel of the Lord’ appears and the three bonus horsemen answer and say the area they surveilled is at rest. All good, boss. 

But it’s not all good. The world is normal. The world is seated (yashav) and quiet (sheket). Remember the words of Paul who said of the last days, “While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.” (1Thes 5.3). Yeshua taught about ‘normalcy’ in his explanation of what some call the rapture. 

“For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming" (Matt. 24.38-42)

The problem in Zechariah’s day is the same as today… disregard of God’s demands, really disregard of God himself. Sure, the Jews had abandoned idolatry, but now a more questionable problem was to arise. Normalcy. Taking it further, it could be hypocrisy. In our days, going to church, but not really deeply pondering the God about whom we speak or to whom we sing. Going through the motions. Normalcy. Eating and drinking. Not wrong. Marrying and giving in marriage. Nothing wrong with that, except that we could say, “what is, is, and won’t change.” It’s as if God is irrelevant to our daily life. Indifference. That would become a more painful sin which God will have to address and will do as we proceed.

Verse 12, I like the angel of the Lord asking God a hard question. “How long?” is not a question of acceptance, but rather a cry for change. Peace and safety is not the goal here, not of the angels. They want the Temple rebuilt. Amazing, no, that the angels are involved in such restoration. 

Kind and comforting words are sent out (much like Isaiah and Amos I imagine) to assure the people that God is no longer angry with them and will send mercies. That’s great news, amen?

Verses 14-17 says the Jewish people will have grace and compassions and we will be restored. 

Think about those comforting words. Barry Webb says, “Comforting words are of no value whatever if the one who speaks them has no power to put them into effect.” (page 69)

The second vision is the shortest of the 8. It involves 4 horns. Zechariah uses the number four like other apocalyptic authors as a symbol of universal, that is, all the nations that have arisen against the Jewish people are in view here. (Zechariah 2.6, 6.5, 6.1) There have certainly been many ‘nations’ and kingdoms that have hated the Jews and sought to eradicate us. Tuesday this week was Yom Hashoah, a month ago was Passover, a month before that was Purim. Shall we continue to litanize the Egyptians and Persians, the Babylonians, the Romans, the Germans, and on and on. Four is not a specific number, but a number that says, “All of the enemies”

But now add in the four craftsmen, the carpenters, the weak who will now take on the powerful horns. How does that work? By God working with them. What are they called to do? Rebuild the Temple! We saw that in verse 16. God will make sure it happens. Join in with God and your work will not be embarrassingly useless, normal or weak. It will be mighty through God. 

Chaos of 70 years of exile, subjugated by the power of God.

Friends, this vision of the weak winning over the powerful, is an encouragement to me and hopefully to some of you on this Zoom call. We have much more to glean from this book and I hope you will join me again next week as we read and study chapter 2, and perhaps you will want to invite a friend to participate as well. 

Remember, you who are watching today, if you are not yet a follower of Yeshua, and see his love for you, his kindness extended, his offer of forgiveness available, right where you are, submit to him, to his lordship, to his care, and your life will take on new meaning, new substance, and you will have mates on this call, and in your neighbourhood and wherever you travel… the Kingdom is advancing under the King. Chaos is subjugated, life is available.

 

Resource on video

To see a fun video overview of the book of Zechariah see this from Bible Project:

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/zechariah/

 

Bibliography:

Smith, Ralph, Micah to Malachi: Word Biblical Commentary (Volume 32), Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1984.

Stead, Michael, Zechariah: The Lord Returns, Aquila Press, Sydney, 2015.

Webb, Barry, The Message of Zechariah: Your Kingdom Come, Intervarsity Press, Nottingham, 2003.

Wiersbe, Warren, Be Heroic: Demonstrating Bravery by your Walk, David C. Cook Press, Colorado Springs, 1997.

 

Easter and Passover: fit together

 

HOW EASTER AND PASSOVER FIT TOGETHER

A Messianic Jew explains

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BOB MENDELSOHN | APRIL 3RD, 2023 09:58 AM 

This year the Easter season overlaps with the Jewish holiday of Passover. For a Messianic Jew, that means a time of extra celebration!

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Passover is the annual holiday when Jews remember the Exodus of their people from slavery in Egypt. This year it begins before sundown on Wednesday, 5 April and ends after nightfall on 13 April.

So why celebrate Passover when you believe in the resurrected Jesus Christ as Messiah, who rescued us from slavery once and for all? Well, for Jewish people this holiday, originally titled “The Lord’s Passover”, is a key part of our identity. Wishing a Jewish person a “Happy Passover” is tantamount to affirming that they are Jews. And giving your Jewish mate a Passover gift would let them know that being Jewish is not a sin from which they need to repent, but rather a great privilege. After all, the message of the gospel was first given to Jewish people.

Why celebrate Passover?

I’m 71 years old and have celebrated Passover throughout my whole life. I grew up in Kansas City in the middle of the USA and have lived the past 25 years in Sydney. It hasn’t mattered where I was living or visiting, Passover is the most celebrated Jewish holiday for me and my family.

It’s not about the food, although it is abundant, and for many, it’s not about the religious ceremony. It’s not the over-sweet Passover wine or the longer-than-necessary prayers and reading of the script. What happens during the holiday is the release of a sort-of homing device, such as happens in New South Wales during March as the Rugby League season begins. It’s similar to hearing the sounds of your national anthem being played while someone you don’t know is standing on the dais during the Olympics. There’s a feeling we call ‘hamishe’ in Yiddish – a feeling of home. That sentiment which drove Odysseus until he reached home and E.T. to ‘phone home’ is the hamishe feeling.

What happens during the holiday is the release of a sort-of homing device.

And that’s what I feel as I approach the holiday again. My parents have been gone for 18 years; my brother died years ago. So Passover is an important way to fulfil my desire to live in hamishe reality. The songs don’t change from year to year. The food tastes the same; the jokes – we could finish each other’s stories before they start. We are home again.

These days tradition is much more important to most Jewish people than the Scriptures. Most Jewish people would not seriously knock back the constitutional reality of what Moses or Isaiah wrote. In fact, most Jewish people today would say that the Scriptures are relevant, even though they would not consider them authoritative or inerrant. They think the Bible is a good story, and the Exodus from Egypt was significant. And that forms the basis of the continuing Passover celebrations.

The shortcomings of Passover

Most of my people would have some argument with the actual biblical story. They might disclaim the possibility of the ten plagues, saying Moses got lucky or knew the secrets of Egyptian folklore. They would say things like, “the parting of the Red Sea didn’t actually happen. One, it wasn’t the Red Sea at all, and then secondly, the rendering of the movies like the one with Christian Bale (Exodus: Gods and Kings, 2014) where his feet were soaking wet, was more in line with reality” or “Miracles are not part of the normal Jewish conversation; Moses and the Red Sea just couldn’t have happened.”

Only by living in his promises and in relation to the Almighty and Yeshua the Messiah will Jewish people find the best hamishe feeling ever.

But that dismissal of the ongoing possibilities of a God-who-overrides is what has caused my people to miss so much in history. Abraham’s wife Sarah laughed in disbelief when the angel communicated about God overriding her 90-year-old body’s limitations. Moses dismissed his own allegiance of faith in striking a rock instead of speaking to it, as God had instructed. His lack of faith prevented his entry into the Promised Land. Saul let his own cleverness override God in sparing Agag and the best of the conquered treasure, while disobeying the clear command to rid Israel of the Amalekites. God wanted to override the situations of the people; those who trusted him would live in his pleasure. And continue to celebrate the God of history and the God of the Exodus. The God who overrides. He’s the God of the super-natural (extra-ordinary: above the normal).

Only by living in his promises and in relation to the Almighty and Yeshua the Messiah will Jewish people find the best hamishe feeling ever.

The need for Easter

The stories of Passover and its Christian counterpart, The Passion/Resurrection Day, teach us much more. Passover features the stories of God sparing the Jewish firstborns in Egypt and bringing his people out of slavery. They are God-who-overrides. This being is reflected in the deliverance Yeshua (Jesus) offers to all who put their trust in him. He died at the hands of the Romans and his execution was permanent. They buried him. He was a goner. And yet, he arose from the dead. That’s extra-ordinary! That’s the God-who-overrides. We are delivered by Yeshua from sin and death. Egypt then represents our bondage, our inability to find eternity, our failures to find grace and mercy to help in times of need.

Thus, if we trust Messiah Yeshua, we are set free from the bondage (Romans 8:2, 8:21) of our personal Egypt and brought into the light of the Kingdom (Colossians 1:13) of God’s beloved Son. The new covenant is better than the old covenant on so many levels: a better name, a better priesthood, better blood, better conditions, better promises, and on and on. Leaving Egypt was awesome. Crossing the Red Sea was God’s power-made-manifest to the Hebrews.

Bob and Patty Mendelsohn

Then God led the Jewish people to the Promised Land and we experienced his hand in all our ways. We found ‘home’ and that hamishe feeling. Only by living in his promises and in relation to the Almighty and Yeshua the Messiah will Jewish people find the best hamishe feeling ever. It’s not the four cups of wine; it’s not grandmother’s matzo ball soup. It’s in finding our Elder Brother, Messiah Yeshua of whom the prophets wrote that we find home.

Easter is a Jewish story – the crucified Messiah, the Son of God, the (Passover) Lamb of God, who dies on Passover, is buried and rises from the dead on the Jewish holiday of First Fruits (Exodus 34, Leviticus 23, 1 Corinthians 15). It’s the story of redemption from something far worse than Egyptian slavery. We are saved from sin and death. And translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. Hallelujah, what a Saviour!